Devriş Çimen

Erdoğan

Kurds, legitimate security concerns, universal values and the mountains

“I would like to remind you that if Sweden and Finland do not take steps to meet our conditions, we will freeze the process.” So said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on 18 July, thus single-handedly setting the rules of the game for Finland and Sweden’s bid to join NATO. But can Swedish and Finnish government officials explain to the public what Erdoğan’s “conditions” are, and what they will do to prevent their accession to NATO being “frozen”?